LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – Bankers are confident they can
persuade the European Union that its proposed financial trading
tax poses enough risks to struggling economies and banks to
warrant being watered down.

Their campaign against the tax, which will be imposed by 11
of the EU’s 27 countries, focuses on how much it would boost the
cost of funding for governments and companies, erode returns
earned even by long-term investors, and hurt funding markets
which are crucial to the health of the financial system.

LONDON (Reuters) – Mario Draghi has set a high bar by declaring that his European Central Bank will do whatever it takes within its mandate to preserve the euro.

At the very least, financial markets expect the ECB to overcome the Bundesbank’s reservations and resume its Securities Markets Programme (SMP), which it last deployed to buy government bonds in the open market nearly five months ago.

LONDON (Reuters) – Mario Draghi has set a high bar by declaring that his European Central Bank will do whatever it takes within its mandate to preserve the euro.

At the very least, financial markets expect the ECB to overcome the Bundesbank’s reservations and resume its Securities Markets Programme (SMP), which it last deployed to buy government bonds in the open market nearly five months ago.

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors can’t seem to buy enough German government bonds and yet the cost of insuring against a German default has slowly crept up.

It might seem counterintuitive that the two phenomena are occurring at the same time but they have a common driving force – growing concern the euro zone crisis has worsened so much that Greece could end up leaving the single currency.

LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) – Investors looking through
the fog of French election campaign rhetoric see enough
differences between the two main presidential contenders to care
who wins.

Protectionism, potshots at European Union rules and promises
to raise taxes on the rich are as much a part of the platform of
conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy as his Socialist rival
Francois Hollande.

LONDON (Reuters) – A slump in Portuguese bond prices in the past month shows there are parts of the euro zone government debt market that massive shots of cheap money from the European Central Bank cannot reach.

Italian, Spanish and Irish bonds have all rallied as banks used some of the 489 billion euros they borrowed from the ECB in December to buy such debt, a profitable trade because the special three-year loans were so cheap.

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – A slump in Portuguese bond
prices in the past month shows there are parts of the euro zone
government debt market that massive shots of cheap money from
the European Central Bank cannot reach.

Italian, Spanish and Irish bonds have all rallied as banks
used some of the 489 billion euros they borrowed from the ECB in
December to buy such debt, a profitable trade because the
special three-year loans were so cheap.

LONDON (Reuters) – German bonds have so far been viewed as the last bastion of safety in the euro zone sovereign debt markets but some prices are beginning to suggest their allure will not be eternal.

A relentless rise in southern European countries’ borrowing costs and the hefty premium they pay over Germany overshadowed an unusual development this week — German yields rose as the euro zone crisis sucked in France and the Netherlands, rather than falling as they did when Italy fell victim.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) – German bonds have so far
been viewed as the last bastion of safety in the euro zone
sovereign debt markets but some prices are beginning to suggest
their allure will not be eternal.

A relentless rise in southern European countries’ borrowing
costs and the hefty premium they pay over Germany overshadowed
an unusual development this week — German yields rose as the
euro zone crisis sucked in France and the Netherlands, rather
than falling as they did when Italy fell victim.

LONDON (Reuters) – Life is not easy for the financial market traders who are making things so hard for euro zone policymakers.

There are no pumped-up traders cheering from their screens as Italy’s bond yields rise or as France gets sucked into a debt crisis which has already forced Greece, Ireland, and Portugal to seek international bailouts. The mood is weary and fraught.